Hello everyone. I live in a dry climate and am wondering about best way to humidify at least three rooms in my house. I have one humidifier in my bedroom. Anyone know of a good brand that doesn't take up a lot of space? (I know, I don't want much). Are small crock pots a good idea? I hope ya'll are having a good day.
My room humidifier is a large crockpot. Small ones wouldn't provide the humidity fast enough over time and would need frequent refilling. I add about 2 quarts of very hot water to my 7 quart crock three time a day. I have several tablespoons of baking soda that remain in the water since I set it up several months ago. Nothing nasty wants to grow in that environment. ;)
[I used cold water once to refill a pot---big mistake, fine cracks all over and had to get a new pot.]
Thank you - I'm getting my crock pot ready!
I never thought of using a crock pot for a humidifier. Pretty cool!!
When I use it for cooking, I add cold water.... what gives with that??
You can add a small amount of cold water to your hot crockpot without risking cracking it, especially if you pour it slowly into the middle. [The hottest part of regular style crockpots are the sides where the heating elements do their thing.] In cooking, you do want to use regular cold tapwater, not water that has sat in your hot water heater first. If I have to add a large amount of water to something that is already hot, I tend to heat the cold liquid up first in another pan or the microwave.Quote from: jazzlover on March 12, 2012, 01:00:52 PM
IWhen I use it for cooking, I add cold water.... what gives with that??
I use a large crockpot to humidify my room also. My tap water has too much residue so I use jugs of distilled water at room temperature. I use it at night when I go to bed and it works for me.
Thanks everyone!
OH thanks for the clarification. Makes sense.
do you put the crock pot on low or high?
another thing I do to increase the humidity is to hang wet laundry in the house. That works well and saves on the cost of the dryer.
Garden-Lover: good idea about hanging the wet laundry!
I use mine on high.
Also, we do have very, very hard water. The baking soda I use softens the tap water so that the minerals in the tap water don't harden onto the sides or bottom of the pot. I would need to use over 10 gallons of distilled H20 a week to keep up with just the one crockpot. That's not going to happen (paying for and lugging home). That was a big objection with regular and ultrasonic humidifiers for us.
You will get a white 'frost' on the sides were the water drys in between replenishments---that is the baking soda mixing with the water's minerals.
Be generous with the amount of baking soda you use. [I actually dumped into the original water a palm full of baking soda, so it could have been as much as 1/2 cup.] When the winter season is over (our summers are humid) I even get to use my pot for regular slow cooking because it cleans up pretty easily. :)
Crock pot.....who would have thought? Good idea but it uses alot more energy than humidifiers to generate humidity. I will use my crock pot until I find a good ultrasonic humidifier. :)
I've been using a crock pot for years. Sometimes I add some spices for a nice scent in the bedroom. A spider plant will keep the air clean too.